There being a myth that Java does not support pointers, let me share with you what I found out a couple of years or so back. Java Reflection Packages made this so robust that you may literally do whatever it is that you might be wondering if you could have Java do this or not!Let me place the code here... it's a result of my exploring the Java Technology and to be precise, sun.misc.Unsafe, the class that lets this facility of Pointer Arithmetic be used in Java SE 1.4 onwards (You may test it for compatibility with Java SE 1.3 with javac -source 1.3 <fileNm.java>)

System.out.println("Previous value of x is "+ toObject(addr));}}Watch it compile and run to your wonder. On Java SE 1.6 onwards,however, it puts some warnings as you compile.Let me know how you liked this.Soham Sengupta+91 9830740684sohamsengupta@yahoo.com

Soham Sengupta Asst. Professor, Dept of Information Technology, JIS College of Engineering, Kalyani
Formerly a System Engineer with Tata Consultancy Service. Soham is an
IBM Certified Associate Developer and a developerWorks Author. He is also known as a Java Consultant and a contributor to SourceForge

Q. Can you trace your Career with JIS College Of Engineering and offer
examples of some of the excellent work that you have been engaged with.
A. Teaching was more of a role than of a profession that used to attract
me right from my student hood and technology and Science were my
passions, and when these mingled in my life, I took it as a life for me
and right from Aug 13, 2004, the date of my appointment as a Lecturer. I
took the oath to help students be technically driven, empowering them
to look beyond the syllabi and not just hanker after semester marks and
be graduating out as an Engineer, in true sense.
Right now I am allotted to teach M.Tech (Software Engineering) , M.Tech
(Mobile Communication and Network Technology), B.Tech (IT). Subjects I
deliver include Object Technology with Java SE, Web Technology with JEE,
Networking, Mobile Communication etc. Apart from just restricting
myself within the course-binds, I delved into various types of projects,
both R&D and real life.
My ship whistled off with launching a simple online test software that
was developed with simple Servlet and JDBC deployed on Tomcat 5.0 and
indeed it was a great success to me despite being confronted with
skeptical raised eyebrows. This software today is on its version 9,
totally built on ZK technology (An all-JAVA, event driven, component
bound framework for Ajax) deployed on IBM Websphere App Server v6.1 and
developed on Eclipse Galileo with ZK plug-in, with DB2 UDB v9.1 as
backend.
There are other examples of how I enjoy teaching, by upgrading myself to
the latest technology, since mine is a stream, i.e. the world of
Software, which is ever changing. A simple example can be traced to
illustrate how I orchestrated study of Ajax, the
pattern-turned-technology, which is driving the web development today,
by just giving them examples of ORKUT with several features, like auto
completion of search fields and other Async activities on it. I believe
that if I cannot make my students work on real life examples, maybe,
however inefficiently, they will never get the essence of it. Through
out my career I have got several lucrative offers, from IBM, CTS, TCS, a
few to name of. I worked for TCS as a systems engineer for 2 months 17
days but I came back for some very personal cause on paying away my 3
month salary basic as fine of violating the bond.

Students here love me, and I love them, too. I conduct their attendance
process via mobile software, I conduct their tests online, and my
students query their marks of unit tests through SMS. And today, when I
felt that the chalk dusts are my nuisance resulting in allergy. I have
made a virtual class room software which lets me write codes, other
texts, put pictures in a web application through A RICH TEXT editor
(FCKEDITOR) that students view on their screen with DWR technology
without having to refresh the page, put my study materials on the
resources section which students download, access an web mail running on
Intranet that lets students communicate, an XMPP Jabber based IM which
lets students chat (I believe in team work and not in just being
bookworms). I’ve been awarded with several awards , including being
champion in the prestigious Young IT Professional Awards 2008 and 2009,
consecutively, conducted by Computer Society of India, beating
delegates of Corporate sectors. Students’ love, respect and their
recognition keep me fresh after a tiresome day.

Q. Which personal and professional traits do you think help you succeed in this field?
A. My general IQ, ability to adapt to the new technologies, highly
fast and intuition driven thought process together with my speedy coding
efficiency see me where I am. As a student I was rank holder in my 10th
and 12th standard. In 12th standard, West Bengal Higher Secondary, I
secured 94% with 8th place in the merit list. My inquisitive mind and
ability to analyze everything made me competent to take any challenge
academically which is now technically. A small example of how my thought
process originated. once in my 1st standard in primary school, a
teacher (I cannot remember his name as I was In that school for only 3
months but shall ever be grateful to HIM) asked the students, “If you
call Goddess Durga as Maa Durga, then why do you call Goddess Saraswati
Maa Saraswati? Either choose Maa Durga and Didi (elder sister) Saraswati
or choose Didimaa (Grandma) Durga and Maa Saarswati. That impelled me
think everything rationally from that very day.

Q. How did your passion for Technology begin?
A. When a toddler, we had a record player that played Long Playing
Records which attracted me and I wondered how this wooden box emanates
sound! I thought and thought and thought and finally one day while my
parents were not around, I broke open the circuits and saw some stuff I
did not make a head or tell out of, and had to pay for my mischief. But I
promised to myself, with tears trickling down my chicks, that one day
I’d be an Engineer (I did not even know what Engineers on the Earth
were or they were Aliens!) and reassemble the circuits.
This was the beginning of how my passion for technology grew. And
started to grow and which is still growing at a higher momentum.

Q. How would you best describe the relationship between Academia and Industry?
A. In the field of Engineering and technology the Academia and Industry
should not be thought of being two different bodies. If academia cannot
make students graduate out to fit the Industry, it’s the failure of the
system. And as far as software industry is concerned, I feel more
emphasis should be put on hands-on activities resembling the real life
works in the Industry. Students must know how work in teams. They should
be given the concept of CVS tools.

Q. What would have been your career choice had you not been a pedagogue
A. I would have become a researcher in Medical Instrumentation and
researcher in Microbiology to work on decoding human Gene map, enabling
medical science to diagnose and treat diseases 100% accurately.
Q. As the business world becomes more complex and specialized, the
demand for individuals with industry recognized credentials will
continue to intensify. In the years ahead, organizations are likely to
place even more value on certifications as a means of differentiating
top job applicants. Your thoughts.
A. The fate of an Engineering College depends on the recruitments at
campus. So, I admire the bulk recruitment of companies in Campus. But I
differ in that: In India, apart from IBM TCS, Infy, CTS, etc. who
delegate the IT giants, are mass recruiters. One simple question: We in
India use Struts, JSF, Spring, Hiberfnate, work on tools like Eclipse,
Netbeans, use DB2, Oracle, MySQL etc. as backend. Also, Websphere,
Weblogic, GlassFish even Tomcat, are web containers. We use these things
in every sphere of life. Put in straight line, how many of our students
have the ability to contribute to Software like these?

Q. You are a mentor to many, who is your role model and who do you draw inspiration from?
A. My role model is Mr. Srijeeb Roy, Associate Consultant, Tata
Consultancy Services, who is my school senior, family friend, once my
neighbour, whom I worship as my JAVAGURU.

Q. How do you ensure to stay abreast with Technology and Trends? Any useful resources you would want to share with our reader
A. Social Networking Sites, Google, etc.

Q. What in your opinion would be some improvement areas in Academia that would need to be addressed in the immediate future?
A. First we have to decide what we want our child to be. An expert or a
Jack? I feel that subjects that pertain to the Industry skills must be
included in the syllabus. Operating Systems cannot be taught without
proper hands on work in Linux Kernels. Also, some subjects, especially
workshop technology is some thing, that people belonging to the software
discipline will never use in life. Recruitment of teachers should be
also very vital. Well, the opinion is mine. I cannot change the system
and I prefer not to elaborate on it.Thank you Sir for a candid and an intriguing interview.

In today’s world net banking is providing a better and faster way to carryout business. In the real world, everyone is looking for fast and securebusiness, which in these days is provided by e-banking or the Net-Bankingfacility. Banks enjoy the profits of providing the option of online bankingbecause they are saving operational costs, but net banking is not very muchsecure. Market researches have recognized that most of the bank frauds haveoccurred in online banking. Every Financial and Banking sector is trying tocreate a secure business platform. This process provides the solution fordebit or credit card fraud and net banking fraud.Banks and Customers are losing huge sum of money because of the fraudtransactions. Hackers obtain personal data for making the fraud. Fraudincreases the customer dissatisfaction and ultimately bank losses business.

Fraud Prevention

Minimize the Bank’s revenue losses. - The UK Payments Administration(formerly APACS) report that online banking fraud reached £52.5m in 2008.That is double the £22.6m online banking fraud recorded in 2007.UK has seen an 8,000% increase in fake internet banking scams in the pasttwo years, the government's financial watchdog has warned. - Source - TheFinancial Services Authority (FSA) Service UK.As per survey every year Banks losses approx 23% revenue from there profit,due to online fraud.Feasibility - It can be implemented on current systems; no other setupswill be required.Security – Bank only provide the warning or Confirmation information to SMSprovider which will not contain any confidential data of the client.Example of SMS – Transaction completed successful or Attempt for onlinebanking., so 3rd party SMS service provide will not receive or transmit anyconfidential data.This system provides extra layers of security to net banking users andextra fast service to user.Instant Confirmation of the net banking transactions to Customers via SMS.which Minimize the online Banking fraud & secure the net banking.Provide Online staement to customer.

Banks Benefits :Build Customers TrustMinimize the number of Fraudulent complains.Prevent loss of Money.Provide extra layer of Security to Customers

Company Benefits:Once customer has satisfied then business will grow & go efficiently.Once customer has trust, business will be increased by 25 times, (it basedon the theory of 5 people by 5 people).Once customer gained confidence then others classified scope of work willbe executed.Better solutions for Banking and Financial sectors.

After implementaion of the systems two main funtions will work:

1) Online statement can be chacked by Credit card users :

If user waants to check his online transaction statement then he will loginthrough net banking and Passed crdit card number, after varification ofcredit card number from the Bank, Bank will write the request message toMessage Broker via MQ and wait to recive the user's transaction data fromVision PlusVision Plus process the data and send back to Bank via message broker andMQ. By the above process uaser will get the transaction staementimmidiatly.

2) Instant Confirmation of Transactions which prevent the fraudtransactions :

Business model :+ MQ + Vision Plus (Credit card holder)

Innovative user will be Visa Credit card user

Experience of Credit card user : When online Banking will initiate (fordebit card, credit card or Net Banking), then for each successful orfailure transactions account holder will receive notification SMS. WhenTransaction became successful after one or more try & it has crossedspecified limit then customer will receive the confirmations alert on hisby sms with uniq.id once customer will bank the confirmation to bank viasms then transaction will be processed otherwise it will be declined.It will prevent the fraudulent and trigger a SMS on account holder mobilenumber.

Net Banking customer will get different option for instant SMSconfirmation.Customers have options for only current transactions confirmations or forevery transactions confirmations through SMS For each confirmation oftransactions customer cell number will be saved with personal data. Forevery hit of customers account , customer will receive SMS on his mobilewith unique id for confirmation of transaction.

After lots of checks customer will receives the SMS for failure or sucessof transactions.This checks provide extra layer of Security on the systems.

And so on Continue to Prevent Fraud Transactions and Provide InstantConfirmation of Transactions

This systems is totally diffrent from the existing crdit card systems, generally credit card statement is genrated on a particular day or on a cycle, when cycle ran then we can see the statement. This systems will provide the instatant statement of credit card user after passing the request from the user.

The most big things of this systems has it prevent the Fraud, I already posted how it could prevent the fraudism. In every transaction when specified limit will be crossed then a confirmation call will be triggered to user which will prevent the fraud transaction.

In today’s world net banking is providing a better and faster way to carry out business. In the real world, everyone is looking for fast and secure business, which in these days is provided by e-banking or the Net-Banking facility. Banks enjoy the profits of providing the option of online banking because they are saving operational costs, but net banking is not very much secure. Market researches have recognized that most of the bank frauds have occurred in online banking. Every Financial and Banking sector is trying to create a secure business platform. This process provides the solution for debit or credit card fraud and net banking fraud.Banks and Customers are losing huge sum of money because of the fraud transactions. Hackers obtain personal data for making the fraud. Fraud increases the customer dissatisfaction and ultimately bank losses business.

Fraud Prevention

Minimize the Bank’s revenue losses. - The UK Payments Administration (formerly APACS) report that online banking fraud reached £52.5m in 2008. That is double the £22.6m online banking fraud recorded in 2007. UK has seen an 8,000% increase in fake internet banking scams in the past two years, the government's financial watchdog has warned. - Source - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) Service UK.As per survey every year Banks losses approx 23% revenue from there profit, due to online fraud.Feasibility - It can be implemented on current systems; no other setups will be required.Security – Bank only provide the warning or Confirmation information to SMS provider which will not contain any confidential data of the client. Example of SMS – Transaction completed successful or Attempt for online banking., so 3rd party SMS service provide will not receive or transmit any confidential data.This system provides extra layers of security to net banking users and extra fast service to user.Instant Confirmation of the net banking transactions to Customers via SMS. which Minimize the online Banking fraud & secure the net banking. Provide Online staement to customer.

Banks Benefits :Build Customers TrustMinimize the number of Fraudulent complains.Prevent loss of Money.Provide extra layer of Security to Customers

Company Benefits:Once customer has satisfied then business will grow & go efficiently.Once customer has trust, business will be increased by 25 times, (it based on the theory of 5 people by 5 people).Once customer gained confidence then others classified scope of work will be executed.Better solutions for Banking and Financial sectors.

After implementaion of the systems two main funtions will work:

1) Online statement can be chacked by Credit card users :

If user waants to check his online transaction statement then he will login through net banking and Passed crdit card number, after varification of credit card number from the Bank, Bank will write the request message to Message Broker via MQ and wait to recive the user's transaction data from Vision PlusVision Plus process the data and send back to Bank via message broker and MQ. By the above process uaser will get the transaction staement immidiatly.

Experience of Credit card user : When online Banking will initiate (for debit card, credit card or Net Banking), then for each successful or failure transactions account holder will receive notification SMS. When Transaction became successful after one or more try & it has crossed specified limit then customer will receive the confirmations alert on his by sms with uniq.id once customer will bank the confirmation to bank via sms then transaction will be processed otherwise it will be declined.It will prevent the fraudulent and trigger a SMS on account holder mobile number.

Net Banking customer will get different option for instant SMS confirmation. Customers have options for only current transactions confirmations or for every transactions confirmations through SMS For each confirmation of transactions customer cell number will be saved with personal data. For every hit of customers account , customer will receive SMS on his mobile with unique id for confirmation of transaction.

After lots of checks customer will receives the SMS for failure or sucess of transactions.This checks provide extra layer of Security on the systems.

And so on Continue to Prevent Fraud Transactions and Provide Instant Confirmation of Transactions

Instant visibility into metrics such as OEE enables plant managers to take quick action to maintain or improve indicators tied to plant operations and maintenance. Plant managers benefit from the ability to compare different production lines, equipment condition, maintenance activity, helping them establish best practices and drive optimal delivery. They can use this integrated software to communicate continuous improvement initiatives in real time and respond to unexpected deviations and exceptions in real-time – all using a simple mobile phone.

Collecting data, such as pressure, temperature, amps, and oil levels using a mobile phone, as well as performing inspection routes and calibration checks.Accessing work orders using mobile phones and also pushing work schedules are of great use. Technicians can perform the actual work with instructions on their mobile phone, enter time taken/work performed details, and close the work orders right on the mobile phone in real time.In addition, business rules and procedures can be enforced more easily with the use of software than with paper-based systems.

Mobile computing offers a proven solution for secured access of equipment history and repair information for engineers on the move. With mobile phones becoming lighter and powerful, manufacturing companies should take advantage of this technology to improve their productivity and efficiency.Enabling Agility in a manufacturing plant becomes so easy, there by increasing agility and efficiency using the vast array of low cost mobile phones.

Please share a little about your professional background, your family and your personal interests. Please add any unique hobbies that you'd like to share.

I have been a part of the IT industry for over 12 years now. I started off my career as a software developer and spent my initial years programming on C, C++ and Java/J2EE for several customer projects. Upon joining IBM, I transitioned into the role of a product consultant where I picked up deep expertise in several of the WebSphere middleware products. As I started working more closely with customers and business partners, helping them solve their critical business problems, I realised I could be more effective if I had a chance to also understand the business side of things. I henceforth took up a role in Product Management and in this role I leverage my technical skills as well as business skills to shape the product portfolio and be relevant to our customers.

I have been with IBM for over 7 years now and throughout my career have managed to strike a good balance between work and fun. I enjoy travelling and my work often gives me a chance to visit new places and meet new people.

'Building a Smarter Planet'. What are your thoughts on how IBM Software is contributing to this?

I believe IBM is well positioned today to take up the enormous task of 'Building a Smarter Planet'. As an organization that is spread across various technology disciplines and with presence across the globe, we have the right mix of people as well the right intentions to make the world a smarter and better place to live in. IBM Software has made all the right investments across various areas including Cloud, Social, Mobile, Analytics, Security and many more emerging technology areas to address the needs of a smarter planet.

What do you think is the biggest technology trend to watch out for in 2013?

While it is very difficult to call out any one specific trend to watch out for, I feel the one trend we definitely cannot ignore today is Mobility. There is a proliferation of mobile devices and tablets which provides people with a lot of flexibility including making online purchases, booking tickets, banking transactions, social networking, location based search for services and much more. For a developer the mobile app development opportunity in itself is huge but this also opens up several other several other areas for technology innovation. Integration with enterprise applications, analytics offerings, e-commerce and cloud platforms are equally interesting areas that are being explored.

Your thoughts on the IBM Developer Superstar initiative and what are your expectations from the IBM Developer Superstar finalists?

The Developer Superstar contest is an amazing initiative by IBM developerWorks as it encourages developers to think out of the box and come up with innovative application ideas. It is also a great chance for us to see how the IBM technologies are being embraced by the developer community. Its a great opportunity for developers to profile and showcase their expertise as well as enlist IBM support in pursuing their future goals.

Words of wisdom for the developer community.

The developer community in India is one of the most vibrant communities globally. While the adoption of new technologies, programming languages, etc is fairly rapid here, we can still do a significant job of giving back to the community as a whole. Increased community activity in terms of technical forums, blogs, conferences, etc encourage better collaboration and leads to innovative ideas. Developing simple solutions to complex business problems, leveraging the right set of tools and technologies should be what everyone should aspire for.

Please share a little about your professional background, your family and your personal interests. Please add any unique hobbies that you'd like to share.

In my current role as Program Manager for IBM Innovation Center, I work with Application Providers ( ISV ) and help paint their solutions blue by enabling their application/s on IBM technologies. I manage the people and system resources engaged in various technical engagements in our lab. I also lead IBM Global Entrepreneur Program, IBM's initiative to build an ecosystem of innovative applications from the Entrepreneur community.

My work involves engaging with companies and teams developing solutions that cut across different industry and technology areas.This is the most interesting aspect of my work, as it helps me to learn about innovation in varied hues.

My family comprises of my husband Dr Subrata Rakshit and my teenage son Siddhant, who is busy preparing for his 10th board.I like singing and listening to music in my free time and love playing table tennis, whenever I get an opportunity.

'Building a Smarter Planet'. What are your thoughts on how IBM Software is contributing to this?

Building a Smarter Planet is a reality that IBM is working towards.

What do you think is the biggest technology trend to watch out for in 2013?

Analytics and Mobility are two emerging technology areas that seem to have applicability across different spheres of human interaction.

Your thoughts on the IBM Developer Superstar initiative and what are your expectations from the IBM Developer Superstar finalists?

IBM Developer Superstar is a great initiative to encourage innovative solution development from the developer community. Would look forward to solution prototypes that are aligned to real life problems.

Please share a little about your professional background, your family and your personal interests. Please add any unique hobbies that you'd like to share.

I work on IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC), a cool team collaboration tool built on the 'Jazz' platform. Jazz is an IBM Rational initiative aimed at making software delivery more effective: an open, flexible platform with a portfolio of products designed for collaboration across the application lifecycle. RTC is a Jazz-based tool that combines the capabilities of many different tools into one - Planning, Change Management, Source Code Management, Build Management, Dashboards and Reports. My team and I work on RTC Clients - integrations into heterogeneous development tools and platforms.

What I love most about working in IBM/Rational is that it gives me an opportunity to remain a hands-on developer - my primary focus is still on design, architecture and coding. These days there are other software companies in India with technical roles for senior engineers - but I can proudly say that IBM/Rational was one of the pioneers. My other love at work is my team - a group of passionate and smart engineers who work great together.

When I'm not at work, I'm into cooking, reading, shopping and trying to manage my pre-teen son and my 8-going-on-18-year-old daughter.

'Building a Smarter Planet'. What are your thoughts on how IBM Software is contributing to this?

What I really like about the Smarter Planet initiative is how it impacts everyone - not just the technical community, and not even the educated community. It just makes life so much better for everyone - better traffic on the road (I wish Bangalore would adopt Smarter Traffic!), better hospitals and advancement in the medical sciences, better education for the masses, cleaner water, a greener planet - it is truly amazing.

What do you think is the biggest technology trend to watch out for in 2013?

Your thoughts on the IBM Developer Superstar initiative and what are your expectations from the IBM Developer Superstar finalists?

IBM Developer Superstar is a great initiative - it provides a platform for smart developers to use IBM tools in truly innovative ways. My hope is that besides being a competition and a challenge, it's also been a fun experience for the finalists. In the end enjoying what you do is what matters the most.

Words of wisdom for the developer community.

Develop with passion. Spend time on design and reusability. Refactor - that's how code goes from good to elegant. Integrate and test often. Have fun!

Please share a little about your professional background, your family and your personal interests. Please add any unique hobbies that you'd like to share.

I have been associated with Enterprise Application Integration for over 15 years and have driven the evolution of Enterprise Information System connectivity within the WebSphere brand. Today, I lead Product Development, Client growth & Support for the WebSphere Connectivity & Integration portfolio at ISL. I also shoulder the key responsibility of organization development within this portfolio.

Outside of work, I spend a good part of my time with my daughter, reading books and watching TV. My husband and I love to travel and are currently venturing places with our little one. I like to share my travel pictures with a story tied to it. I haven’t been very diligent about it for few years now, but I can see it coming back. Besides travel, I like cooking and try out different cuisines.

'Building a Smarter Planet'. What are your thoughts on how IBM Software is contributing to this?

Never before has technology pervaded into our lives like the way it has in the last decade. From aspiring to be a well connected planet we have now transcended to be a smart one that interconnects virtually all things each of which can instrumented to accurately sense and respond to changes in it's ecosystem - a Smarter Planet. Today we have devices, people and process productively interplaying in ways unforeseen a decade ago, powered by smart-software that can now consume and analyze massive amounts of data from heterogeneous sources and effect actions that result in favorable outcomes for businesses.

IBM Software bridges the gap between a customer problem and capabilities needed to meet them. And what's more important is in translating these in to solutions to bring a difference to the world. On Nov 16, 2012,IBM announced Gurgaon and Chennai as the two cities in India to be awarded with IBM Smarter Cities Challenge Grant for 2013. This grant provides the city with access to IBM's top experts to analyze and recommend ways that will enable Gurgaon and Chennai to become even better places to live.

What do you think is the biggest technology trend to watch out for in 2013?

Your thoughts on the IBM Developer Superstar initiative and what are your expectations from the IBM Developer Superstar finalists?

IBM Developer Superstar is a wonderful platform for professionals out there to realize their ideas using IBM products. It also gives us an opportunity to UNDERSTAND the new ways in which our products could be used and probably bring in additional insight to evolve them. It is also important to know how this program also helps identify for Global entrepreneurship program. My ask to the finalists is stay put, keep your focus on what you want to create and showcase, … enjoy the whole finale. You should be proud that you have reached this key milestone and I congratulate you on the same.

Words of wisdom for the developer community.

Instead of Words of Wisdom, let me share from my experience… The development process has changed over years and the Integrated Development Environments are providing foundation for easy development. So it becomes important that developers learn, try and become expert on solving complex problems. Application developers should try to build some domain expertise to complement their coding skills. This could help them add more purpose to their code , develop quicker with an understanding and can test them efficiently & effectively. Developers should try to experiment with new code constructs or languages to continuously bring in the efficiencies of these new additions to production.

Meet Sargam Singh, one of our panelists for the Developer SuperStar 2012 evaluations

Please share a little about your professional background, your family and your personal interests. Please add any unique hobbies that you'd like to share.

I have been in the IT industry for past 15 years and with IBM for last 8 years. I hold a Masters degree in Computer science and a PG Diploma in Business Administration. I have worked in different roles during my career, both on the management as well as technical side. I joined IBM India Software Labs as a Project Lead on WebSphere Application Server Test team and moved on to be a Development Manager with WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) project. Currently, I am the Product Line Manager for WebSphere Messaging & Integration products, responsible for India/ South Asia region.

In my family, besides me and my husband, I have a daughter who is 13 now and my mom-in-law who is with us. Both me and my spouse are in high pressure jobs but I am blessed to have a strong family support system which makes managing everything so simple. Coupled with this, IBM's work-life integration culture makes it possible to deliver the best both at work as well as for my family. Despite of our hectic schedules, we spend time together over weekends and that is my favorite pastime. I am a social person and enjoy the most when I am in company of friends and family. My current job role entails travelling which helps me get some quiet time all by myself, and catch up with reading, which has always been my passion.

'Building a Smarter Planet'. What are your thoughts on how IBM Software is contributing to this?

Technology has become intervened in our day to day lives today. The ability to instrument 'things' using sensors and 'inter connect' them helps to build 'intelligent' solutions which is the base for 'building a Smarter Planet'. The world is becoming flatter and signs of a smarter planet are all around us. We see computational power being put into things which are not traditional computers, like cars, highways, appliances, power grids, even natural systems like agriculture and water ways. This generates BIG Data which brings about a new set of challenges in terms of scaling the enterprise infrastructure to handle the data explosion, security challenges due to ever growing interaction points and so on.

'Smarter Software' is the base for building a smarter planet solution. Over the last few years, IBM has dramatically transformed its software portfolio and millions of dollars have been invested in advancing the innovation of core capabilities. IBM provides a robust middle-ware to equip the organizations to handle these challenges more effectively and efficiently. IBM software portfolio has offerings to enable the enterprise analyze this explosion of data to gain insights, anticipate events and predict trends, there by enabling intelligent solutions. IBM software is enabling smarter solutions across a broad spectrum of industries including Healthcare, Banking & Insurance, Retail, Energy & utilities, telecommunication, Education, Governance and many more.

What do you think is the biggest technology trend to watch out for in 2013?

The top industry trends include Social, Mobile, Cloud and Analytics (often referred to as SMAC). However, the biggest trends which is a resultant of these and will impact the businesses the most is 'Big Data', which is the resultant of data explosion due to newer channels like mobile, social and cloud. We generate peta bytes of data everyday, which is expected to cross 35 zetta bytes by 2020. This data comes from everywhere: sensors, posts to social media sites, digital pictures and videos, business transaction records, and cell phone GPS signals to name a few. This data is both structured and unstructured, and newer insights are found when these are analyzed together. Big data is more than simply a matter of size; it is an opportunity to find insights in new and emerging types of data and content, to make your business more agile, and to answer questions that were previously considered beyond your reach. I think this will present the most opportunities in the years to come and be the base for predictive analytics which will make the business smarter and more responsive.

Your thoughts on the IBM Developer Superstar initiative and what are your expectations from the IBM Developer Superstar finalists?

This is a great initiative in my opinion. It provides an excellent platform for developers who have an out-of-box thinking and an innovative bent of mind. The synergy which can emerge when IBM software is utilized for solving the grass root problems is just unthinkable. Such initiatives are a great way of putting the technology to use to solve our day to day problems and often unleash an unimaginable possibility of application.

I would expect the IBM Developer Superstar finalists to put the IBM technology to use to solve a problem in an innovative way. Technology provides the tools to build the solution, and the way these tools can be leveraged to solve an end use case is what will distinguish one from the other. The key differentiator will be the innovativeness and smartness of the solution which is built.

Words of wisdom for the developer community.

Do not let the technology limit your imagination, in fact, its your imagination which will drive the technology. So always challenge the limits, and innovation will follow.

Arun is an Assistant Consultant in Tata Consultancy Services, India. He is a BI solution architect with expertise on Cognos series 7, IBM Cognos BI technologies.Read more about his app and the motivation behind it in his own words.

Congratulations Arun and our best wishes for the final round of evaluation!What is "Cognos Reporting"?The existing cognos Audit setup does not provide any insights into the hardware utilization factor of the servers where Cognos services are running (dispatcher, Content manager). This approach will provide a means to gather and analyze the performance data of the hardware resources (CPU, RAM, Drive utilization) along with the audit reports.This approach if implemented will help the BI Cognos team to monitor their cognos environment with the Hardware utilization dimension and to take corrective actions to avoid any severity incidents. In addition to this, this approach can also be extended for other application infrastructure to gather the HW statistics and to get corrective actions.

Why this idea?We planned to reduce the number of severity incidents in our application and when gathering the indicators that contribute to the severity. We found that Hardware is one major factor apart from the application service that needs to be monitored. From then on we concentrated on gathering the Hardware statistics and thus we evolved with this idea.

I am an IBM Developer superstar because I have a solution that will help a vast variety of application owners to debug their application.

Meet Gaurav Ashara, One of the finalists of the IBM Developer SuperStar Contest 2012.

Gaurav comes from Gujarat and believes that a good app is the one which ultimately proves beneficial to the society in one way or another. If it's helpful to a lay person, it's a brilliant solution! Impact and Benefit is a key criteria on the final evaluation and we hope to see more on this thought.

Congratulations Gaurav and all the best for the final round!

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your interests and your background.My Name is Gaurav Ashara. Basically I belong to Porbandar, Gujarat. I have completed my Bachelor Degree (BCA) from my hometown Porbandar. Then I did a job in an IT company - Shiny Software Solution (3S) for 1 year as Software Developer. Presently I am pursing MCA degree from S. K. Patel Institute of Management and Computer Studies, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. I am in final year of MCA (semester -5).My interest area is about to create something innovative, something worth to me and which will be beneficial to the society, and I want to make it possible using my expertise & knowledge.

Please describe your innovation briefly.My app Idea : Flexi-Sol for Farmers (Flexible Solution For Farmers)It basically targets empowerment of Farmers and solution to the problems faced by them using Information Technology. I have analyzed various problems of farmers and the difficulties faced by them. For this I have met various farmers, experts of farms and also talked to many experts from Agriculture University, situated in Junagadh and Anand, Gujarat.

Mentioned below are some of the Problems of Farmers-Broker: - Farmers sell their crop through the broker not by themselves. Broker cheats them by various ways like giving less price of crop as compared to market price, incorrect Weighing/Counting of Crop, Not getting the payment on time. Weather Information: - Farmers don’t get accurate weather information. So, they collect it manually and accordingly plan for the farming. This plan changes as weather also changes often, creating problems in farming.Pesticide: Farmer usually doesn’t know which pesticides can be used on which type of damaged crops. Sometimes farmer also get cheated when purchasing pesticides.Uneducated Farmers: Farmers of villages are not educated in India. They don’t know the technology used in farming, new Irrigation process, money counting, good policies of government etc.Electricity: As we know in India Electricity problems play vital role in Farming. Farmers do not know when electricity is going to be cut in their particular region.And many other problems like equipment buying and selling, exporting their crops to international market and not getting tips from experts. Solution: -

We can provide mobile application as well as web based platforms. Using it farmers will do following activities-Farmers will get the latest information about crop price on mobile/web browser. And also sell the crop online.We can provide the latest weather information. We also send the alerts of weather, natural disasters and more.They can also purchase pesticide online. Farmer can purchase the pesticide according to the government price. Many video tutorials are available on our portal that give information of how much pesticide is useful for growing particular crops. Basically Coaching related to farming can be given. Information regarding general calculations, family planning & other type of education activities can be provided by giving tutorials. Farmer can send land and soil to the parasitical laboratory and can get the solution if any problems related to land are there. I have provided following features as solution -• Multi - Language support. • Fully dynamic content updating facility. • Drill down report facilities for Govt. and other authorities.• Video and Audio tutorial for farmers. • Weather Alerts, Electricity Alerts and News Alerts provision through SMS, email etc.

Acknowledgement: -I got support from many people and organizations to bring this idea to executable level. Here are some of the names-• Mr. Rakesh Bhatnagar, Head - MCA, S. K. Patel institute of Management & Computer Studies• Mr. Digvijaysinh Rathod, Lecturer-MCA, S. K. Patel institute of Management & Computer Studies• Experts of Junagadh Agriculture University and Anand Agriculture University.

What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted?The motivation behind this idea was –• Problems faced by Farmers of India(I got the information from my friends. Their fathers are farmers. In spite of having so many difficulties faced in farming, how they are educating their children, paying the hefty fees of the program and still providing the best for them. )• Inadequate Agriculture facilities • Improper management of crops• Improper use of Fertile Soil• Corruption

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because I want to create something innovative and worthy for the society in the best possible way I can.I heartily Thank IBM for the opportunity they have given to me to do something for the society.

Yafar is an enthusiastic developer from Kerela who is shortlisted for his app "Cloud Farming Mission" Yafar was our 2nd runner up last year in the Developer SuperStar Contest 2011. Read on about his winning ideas and what keeps him motivated.

About myself, my interests and my background.I am yafarkhan, belonging to kollam district in kerala.I have completed my diploma from JDT polytechnic, Calicut and B-Tech from YOUNUS COLLEGE of engineering and technology.Actually,this is my second opportunity to become a part of the contest-IBM DEVELOPER SUPERSTAR since I have participated in the same contest for the last year.I have secured the 2nd runner up position in 2011,for my project named regional programming language,which is now renamed as MAACODE-code your language. Now, maacode is accepted by the kerala government and they are planning to implement this project in government schools. This contest and in fact maacode changed my life to a great extent.I have got great appreciations from everyone and ofcourse a number of reputed companies from around the world came forward with several opportunities.And so because of all these, I have decided to step forward again, into the same contest-IBM DEVELOPER SUPERSTAR 2012, with a new innovative project named Cloud Farming Mission. This time also, with god’s grace, I have become one among the ten candidates at the end of the preliminary stages.INNOVATIONThrough my project I have not only introduced the concept of agriculture for the farmers alone, but to all those persons who doesn’t know even the basics of this sector. One can understand each and every aspects of farming through our project. The highlight of my project is that each and every factors that constitute agriculture, that is, information’s about the soil fertility, quality of the seeds, water usage, proper buyers etc are completely online based. And so ,a person who owns a portion of land in Kerala and working in America could control his farm through online by himself, efficiently and effectively, even though he is busy with his works there.This system mainly performs soil test operations that are which crop fits best to a particular type of soil. It will also provide details to the farmers regarding the soil fertility and the farmers will be able to purchase quality seeds directly from the best distributors from around the world. It have a pumping system which works automatically, and thus the farmers can easily control the water usage.Besides all these we are planning to develop an online social media for the farmers and through this facility all the farmers from all around the world will have a chance to clear their doubts regarding their works. Moreover, they themselves can find proper buyers for their product, and can purchase best quality seeds depending upon their wish and satisfaction .Now a days; it becomes a common practice that, those persons who have passed the age of 60, will get retired from all of their works, and spent their leisure time looking after the homely needs. And in the case with youth, they are not interested to work in this field; instead they are being forced to work on other field. So, we are sure that, our project will put forward new path for both these categories of people too to blossom out successively in their life.

Motivation behind the ideaThe present world is now being faced with a critical problem of food scarcity. The main reason behind this issue is the lag in growth of agricultural yields. According to the study, between now and 1962, there is an alarming decrease in the global food production at a rate of 20 to 40 percentage. This hampering is due to several reasons…Every agricultural lands are facing degradation due to industrial pollution, decreasing interest in farmers, lack of interest towards this field by the new generation.If this crisis continues, we will not be able to satisfy our hunger and so we will have to depend on other countries for the same.This, with no doubt, will adversely affect the growing status of our nation.So, vital steps should be taken to understand the issues in the agricultural sector, and to take effective measures to wipe out the problems in agriculture.Otherwise, we will have to face a great crisis of food scarcity..

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because

if I become an IBM DEVELOPER SUPERSTAR,I will completely reconstruct the outlook of agricultrural sector with the powerful tool -the technology- that I have at hand.As the human population is increasing at a faster rate day by day,it becomes a vital need for new technologies to supplement the industry.On the upcoming of this technology, I assure that, it will be able to provide warm support to the people, and ofcourse one could expect higher yield from farms. The future will become bright for farms, and thereby farmers could make farming easier and we could advance farming to both poor and the starving.

Aloke impressed the judges with his innovative app Mobile Tutor in the first round, his main focus being usability and benefit!

Kudos on a brilliant idea Aloke and wish you the best for the final round!

Tell us a little bit about yourself,your interests and your background.

Hi, My name is Aloke Kumar Das. I am a Post Graduate from IIT Delhi and Graduate from Calcutta university. I was always interested in Electronics and still it is a hobby for me. After coming out of IIT, I took a job in VLSI industry. But I had to learn software programming as well as part of my job.My interests are still with electronics. Whenever Intel or AMD brings new platform in the market I try to evaluate them. I keep evaluating linux based Operating Systems as well. With the introduction of smart phones I can get the new hardware and new OS as a bundle. This is really cool. So my interest has been shifted to this new area these days.

Please describe your innovation briefly. This is a app where students of any class of Indian CBSE board can refresh their studies in their subjects. The app has study materials for each major and minor topics of the subjects and they can test their knowledge by answering in-app questionnaires. Instant massaging will help them to connect to a teacher or with friends. Very useful to revise!

What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted? From the beginning of the last decade Low Cost PC is much talked about. But that never become reality. Now a day, tablet is becoming affordable. This can help the students in their education. One tablet can store all the books. And the study material can be made attractive in a tablet. Combined that with the power of internet students can interact with teachers, seniors, friends and create a study group and communicate within themselves. This will become a big business in near future.

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because I have cool ideas and right solutions to build a"Smarter Planet"

Edvin is a confident and articulate go getter who is sure to give his fellow finalists a run for their apps! Read on to know what competition to watch out for!

Congratulations Edvin on being shortlisted in the top 10! We wish you the best for the final round!

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself, your interests and your background.

Armed with High Energy, Entrepreneurial drive, Marketing sense and style, I took a break from Corporate World to chart my course in developing a Smarter Planet. During his long career at IBM India Software Labs, I sharpened my expertise in Software Development, Agile Development methods, people management, client relations, Product Management and new business development.

Currently I'm the Founder & CEO at Appface Technologies Pvt Ltd, an innovative software organization developing Mobile Applications for Business Win. I previously served in key leadership roles at IBM India Software Labs, Oracle India Development Centre and Sun Microsystems. I like bicycle trips on weekends with my son and enjoy taking "History Sessions" to friends and family while travelling with them to historic locations in India and around the world. I live with his my Seena Edvin and two children at Whitefield, Bangalore.

2) Please describe your innovation briefly.

Smarter Planet opens up many opportunities for SMB segment. BMTC Bus Tracker is a system where every Phone user will be able to track buses which is of interest to him/her located around him. In developing countries like India when buses don't run on time, Its impossible to predict when a certain bus will arrive. BMTC bus tracker system keeps track of each bus in a server with GPS co-ordinates and shows the data on a Smart Screen Phone. Bus Location data which is relevant at a certain point in time at a certain location. The similar Product can have varied applications in Logistics, Transport, Tourism etc.

3) What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted?

Bangalore is notorious for Traffic Jams. Buses never arrive on time. It is of great help for bus commuters when a system is developed which can show which buses are arriving at a particular bus stop. The user can view the bus moving on his screen and then decide to walk up to the bus stop. The system must also show which buses are plying on a particular route and their respective locations on the Map.

Sanjay is passionate about all things IT and has had extensive experience in using WAS and Rational. His app "Dynamic Speed Control of Vehicles" is a force to watch out for!

Congratulations Sanjay on making it to the top 10! All the very best for the finals!

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your interests and your background.

I have 17 years of experience in a large IT organization with over 14 years in Java and Web technologies. I believe that change is a key catalyst to innovation and he quickly adapts to the changing environment. Being a Solution Architect, I accept any challenge that comes my way and this has helped me to continue in the technical forte and learn various technologies. During the IT career, I had the opportunity to work with IBM technologies namely Websphere Application Server and Rational Software Architect

Please describe your innovation briefly The innovation is aimed at automating the speed control in the vehicles. Presently there are speed limits indicated in the highways. However the drivers can still go above the speed limit. Any deviation to this speed limit is monitored by the police department through speed cameras. This innovation eliminates the need for speed cameras and subsequent monitoring by the police. This is achieved by the following means

* Make speed governors mandatory in all the vehicles. * Police department can dynamically control and set the speed limit for a given stretch of highway through the User Interface provided in the mobile device * The speed limit set is communicated to the respective highway speed controller * When any vehicle passes through a particular highway controller, the controller instructs the speed governor to adjust the speed in the vehicle as per the speed limit set * The adjustment of the speed will be a gradual process * Exception to certain critical vehicles is considered in this innovation ( like Ambulances, Police Van etc)

What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted?

On the highways where there are speed limits in a particular stretch of road, people tend to maintain speed limit only near the police speed controller. In all other zones they may exceed the speed limit which may lead to accidents. This affects the people who follow the road and traffic rules. Also at Signals, even when the signal has turned yellow or red there are people who speed up to cross the signal putting pressure on the people who follow the rules. Seeing this I always wanted to device a mechanism so that everyone follows the rules.

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because___________________? The idea I have created has the capacity to bring orderliness and innovation around the traffic management system, and also help save lot of lives. There is lot of scope for applicability of this idea in Traffic Fine collection notification, insurance defaulter notification, ticket issuance, crime tracking etc.

Rajneesh is an alumni of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla .and Indian Military Academy Dehradoon and spent 24 glorious years of service in the Indian Army. How did an app using Lotus Domino come about?! You'll have to read his interview to know more!Congratulations Rajneesh on being shortlisted in the top 10! We wish you the best for the final round!

Please tell us about your interesting career and background.

During the 24 years of service in the Indian Army, I have been involved in provisioning of Communications and Data Networks for Army Units deployed in peace as well as in Counter Terrorism Operations, Deserts and Mountains. The job involved managing, optimizing and operating the back bone Communication and IT network for field forces in both static and mobile scenarios in extreme environmental conditions and hostile elements. The job also involved conceiving and implementing Communication and IT related projects of values ranging from a few crores to 3000 crores. In my last appointment as Director Communication Planning , Army Head Quarters, I was responsible for induction and procurement of Communication Equipment and Systems for the Indian Army as also for formulating the Long Term Perspective Plan for the Army for next 15 Years. I voluntarily took pre mature retirement in 2010 to set up my own software business which focuses purely on Software Development.

Please describe your innovation briefly.The application is built to handle the formal office to office and intraoffices correspondences wrt to defence and govt offices. On a generic level, the system caters to whitehall filing system. On a more specific level, the application exactly handles the processes involved in sending, receiving, processing, work flow, archiving and retreival of official correspondences as per the existing processes being followed in govt offices and defence establishments. The software does not require the client to re engineer his process in any way. Instead it conveys the message that his process is mature and has stood the test of time. The client works just the way he has always done except that he now works in an online computerized environment.

What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted?

The motivation to develop such an application came from my experiences in defense and govt businesses. Every one would talk of automation and always end up buying hardware, augment the network and still work his way through the paper files as no one would offer a solution which respected his process. The current offering is an effort to address this void. The software offering built on Lotus Domino automates his entire generic correspondence and work flow processes yet allows him to retain all his existing processes within a familiar look and feel.

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because... I have devised a hugely acceptable application on IBM Lotus Domino Platform that showcases the true versatility and potential of the Domino Platform and projects it as a system way beyond the emailing platform that it is usually mistakenly perceived to be.

Meet Shantanu, one of the finalists of the Developer SuperStar Contest 2012!

Shantanu is an enthusiastic developer with a passion for all things related to Mobility! He's an entrepreneur with a serious appetite for creativity.

Read on to know more about his innovative app 'JMD Weather'

Congratulations Shantanu, on being selected as one of the finalists for
the IBM Developer Superstar Contest! We wish you the best for the final
evaluations.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, your interests and your background. I am working in India Meteorological Department since last 3 years. In the meanwhile I have a startup of my own. As a startup we are working to make use of the reach and penetration of mobile and smartphone devices into the general public. In view of that we are developing an exclusive solution for India meteorological Department to provide weather and other related information available with IMD to the general public on smart phones. We are also in process to develop a mutual weather information exchange and feed back mechanism between railways and IMD.

Please describe your innovation briefly. Most of the weather information that is collected in India region is collected by IMD and the most of the weather forecast is to be provided by IMD. Though the products are there on the website but people are generally unaware of the availability of the product. So we are developing a solution that will be used by common people as well people in particular domain like farming and transport to have the weather and related valued added services on their smartphones or handheld systems. What was the motivation behind the idea you submitted?I have worked with India meteorological department and in one meeting I presented the idea of having this kind of solution and they started procedures to have this solution included in the 12th five year plan of government of India and now we have a plan approved by the government of India that we can work and sped money on similiar kind of system.

I am an IBM Developer Superstar because____I thought it would provide a great showcase for our product and we can make this solution generic so that it can be used by other meteorological departments throughout the world. Moreover I am expecting some initial funding or at least some technical and infrastructural support from a technology giant like IBM!

Patient satisfaction is becoming the crux of any thriving health care organization. As the health care industry becomes increasingly competitive, any provider that wants to set itself apart from the crowd can do so by offering consistent, quality patient care. By giving patients a healthcare surveyat the end of their visit, providers can act on the feedback they receive to improve patient satisfaction.

Healthcare surveys can target the core needs of patients, identify their expectations, and provide real-time feedback on performance. The best surveys and collection methods are both convenient and customizable. Opinionmeter, a company that has been in the business of consumer surveys for over forty years, uses state-of-the-art survey software and collection devices to gather point-of-experience patient feedback. Flexible and unique, Opinionmeter software allows for data to be collected either online or offline.

Ideal for hospitals, clinics or private practices, the variety of different collection methods Opinionmeter offers makes it easy for doctors and nurses to distribute surveys. On-site, surveys can be administered via hand-held devices designed for surveys, mobile devices such as tablets or smart phones, or stand-alone kiosks. Online surveys for the patient to fill out from the comfort of home are also available. The same survey can be offered via all of these platforms, and for even greater versatility, Opinionmeter allows for multiple surveys to be put on different platforms at once.

The information collected is then readily available to administrators to review. Opinionmeter's survey software is designed to identify trends and send out low-score alerts. This continual feedback is available both on-demand and via scheduled, automatic delivery. Areas of poor service are clearly visible and can be addressed instantly, and areas of mediocre performance can be identified before real problems begin.

Side-by-side comparison of results is easy, and survey management is simple. All Opinionmeter surveys can be managed in one place, and surveys can be edited as-needed on the devices themselves. With the capability of adding as many questions as needed, administrators can immediately find out more about identified problems from patients by simply adding more questions.

Patients who feel like their opinions are heard and make a difference are more likely to be satisfied with their care. By staying on top of personnel performance and patient satisfaction, any health care provider can quickly develop a reputation for quality patient care and responsiveness. A healthcare survey can give a health care provider a clear edge over the competition while staying cost-effective and simple.